the methods and madness of one family of 13
Megan: lace, cowboy boots, and curls.
Kaitlyn: fishtail braid, peacock necklace and awesome leather belt. 
Lydia: fluer de lis necklace, black nail polish and belt and converse shoes.,
And to make up for laziness…
Two of the most handsome guys I know!
Sorry y’all! I’ll try to do better. In the meanwhile gets all the pics I haven’t been posting!
Gypsy Rachael.
Patriotic Lydia.
The sun rays in the top of this picture are gorgeous, don’t you think?
Posted by: Kittykait
Eek! I completely forgot to take pictures last week because we were at a birthday party for my adorable cousins in Austin. This week, I was in Fort Worth for a family reunion, but lucky for you Lydia and Megan had the presence of mind to do my job for me. Aren’t they sweet? Since I didn’t take a picture if my outfit (which wasn’t spectacular anyway) I’ll just rent and rave about my new (used) boots that I got from goodwill!
They’re real leather, pre-worn in to perfection, and have gorgeous fabric on the inside, which I love in clothes! It’s like someone added a little touch as a special favor to you, just so you can smile when you put them on. Oh, and they’re half a size too big so I can wear them with big poofy socks in the winter!
Lydia wore one of her favorite polka dot skirts with some new black Chucks she got from Platos Closet.
Megan seems to have tried on quite a few of my dresses, from the very full state of her bed and empty state of my closet, and settled on this one. That’s ok, it looks better on her.
Parker with his first pair of real Converse that we got him for his birthday, along with a vest. Isn’t he handsome?
Posted by: Kittykait
This week Natalie wore a polka dot shirt and a skirt with little flowers, I think this is one case where two patterns work rather well. Her bright blue Converse add a nice splash of color.
Megan borrowed a dress from Lydia (as usual).
Lydia is wearing a new dress she bought at Walmart last week.
I wore a kind of wacky outfit today. I put one of my favorite blue dresses under my very favorite super stripey skirt, with a black belt at the waist to pull it together.
What did you wear to church this week?
Posted by: Kittykait
I know I’ve promised weekly posts multiple times and failed every time (sorry!), but this time I think it will be easier to keep it up, because I just got a smartphone (yaaay!), so I can post on the hour drive to or from church. Basically, I won’t have time to procrastinate! My plan is to post pictures of Megan, Lydia and me (and whoever else is close by), probably without many (or any) words, because as much and as well as people write I’ve always loved looking at pictures they post. It’s so much more personal and easier to process, it gets the point across better, like a little peek into someone’s life.
Posted By: Kittykait
When people ask me about learning to sew I always say “Try it! Practice makes it easy, fast!”, and it always seemed silly to me when they returned with something like, “I couldn’t do it like you. You’re just naturally talented!”. But I always felt the same way about writing. Deanna and Megan could always just write well, with little effort. But I couldn’t and practice wasn’t going to change that. As it turns out, I just needed a pattern to help me along with my practice.
Several weeks ago Mom told Lydia and I that she signed us up for an online essay class, which didn’t excite me at all. It made me nervous. I’d never done something like it before and I didn’t know what to expect, especially when I found out there were in-class assignments! And a teacher! And worst of all, grades! I may have acted like a silly unsocialized homeschooler for a while. The upside to my nervous pessimism is that I’m usually pleasantly surprised!
The teacher is funny, entertaining and comprehensive. He uses a lot of quotes from famous literature to illustrate whatever aspect of good writing he’s talking about. He also uses some more lighthearted quotes. One week he pulled bits from both The Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride movie, which won me and Lydia over for good.
The in-class assignments, which were my greatest fear going into this, are extremely helpful, because you get criticism on the spot. That way we know if we properly understand the concept that he’s going over, before the actual (graded) assignment is turned in.
The class is for five paragraph essays, which is a bit of a rigid format, but the principals carry over to most types of writing. After all, every bit of writing should have a bit of an introduction, and once you’ve written and intro you have to say something about the subject, then of course, you never want to leave a reader just hanging so you must wrap it up! Besides structure Mr. Vogel has plenty to say about keeping your writing from being choppy, making it interesting, engaging your reader from the beginning, and using different styles to aid you in whatever type of writing you are using to communicate.
The class is nearly over now, and I’ll be sorry to see it go. I like being forced to practice new things every week, which is a big deal. I used to be the kid that had emotional breakdowns over writing. Ridiculous. The skills I’ve gained from his class have given me a lot more confidence in my writing. Hopefully I’ll have the self-discipline to keep it up on my own, but for now I’m incredibly grateful for all that Mr. Vogel has taught me. I highly recommend it for parents looking to boost their emotionally incontinent writer’s confidence. Who knows? Maybe they’ll end up enjoying it.
P.S. If you ask *really* nicely I might post a few of my assignments.
Posted by: Kittykait
I made a Pinterest account last week and it’s been making my crafty side feel super energetic! Last night Deanna gave me a v-neck shirt that she didn’t want and I’ve never been terribly fond of v-necks so I decided to experiment with it. Here’s what I came up with:
This was super easy, cute and fast! It took me less than ten minutes the first time. The best part? The neckline is more modest because it doesn’t sag at all!
Enjoy!
Posted by: KittyKait
While we were at the Homeschool conference in Plano a few weekends ago, I lost my iPod touch. Ouch. You have no idea how hard it hurt to say that.
I’m going to wait until September 9th to replace it when the newest generation comes out. That way the price on the old one will drop. Or if the new one is super awesome-er enough I’ll buy it. Though if I decide to buy the new one I’ll probably wait a few weeks after the release and buy a refurbished one from Amazon.
But of course I’ll need money to carry out this plan. So, you buy my stuff, I buy iPod and then we’re all happy.
All items are new from Vision Forum or from the Vision Forum clearance rack.
One really cool radio:
You can use the solar panel, a hand crank or AAA batteries in it to power this radio. It also has a USB port in the back to charge a phone or pretty much anything else in the world. And an auxiliary port, which lets you use the speakers on the radio to listen to an iPod.
New from Vision Forum. The box is dented at one corner. $35 with free shipping.
One very nice Dictionary:
Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
A dictionary with Christian perspective. What else is there to say?
There are a few little wrinkles on the bottom corner of the back cover but it’s hardly noticeable. It looks like the paper/vinyl was not carefully applied to the board. $35 with free shipping.
And Natalie wanted me to add that she is selling a Fidelia doll.
She is selling her for $45 with free shipping.
Posted by: Kittykait
Today I had one of my great ideas! No doubt you are wondering what my brilliant mind has thought up now!
I have decided to do a weekly poll here.
Everyone likes polls. I suppose that’s because everyone likes to talk about themselves and to see what others think. Polls are interesting because it’s a little glimpse into normality… Whatever that is.
I don’t think I post nearly as often as I should or as I mean too.
And thus, I think that my (current) brilliant idea is the perfect opportunity to fix that. Until of course I think of another brilliant idea and desert this one as quickly as I fell madly in love with it.
I’ll try to do some that are actually informative and educational, but of course I’ll have be sarcastic sometimes. It’s in my blood after all.
[poll id="12"]
Posted by: Kittykait
I’m all jazzed right now because I finally started an Etsy shop! In case you didn’t know, Etsy is a place like ebay for handmade, supplies for handmade things and vintage items.
We’ve found it’s a great place to find inexpensive jewelry making supplies like pendants, charms, chains etc. 
I set up my Etsy shop for some really cute, thanks to some loverly mariemadeline scraps, fabric rings. I’ve been meaning to for a long time but I procrastinate, just like my Mommy, isn’t that sweet?
I’m telling you first, partly so you can hop over and take a look and give me suggestions, like what questions you have that I didn’t already answer in the description. And so you can give me some of my first business!
And please let me know what color you like best!